Long-running lecture series celebrates 30 years at University of Guelph
Global News
A collaboration between the university and the International Development Research Centre allowed for the creation of the lecture in 1993.
Some of the world’s leading experts in their respective fields have taken part in the Hopper Lecture at the University of Guelph.
The Guelph Institute of Development Studies (GIDS) is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the lecture in the month of October. The Institute is marking the occasion with speaker Leanne Betasamosake Simpson on Thurs. Oct. 19 who will deliver a lecture titled ‘Theories of Water’.
The Hopper Lecture began in 1993 and was named after David Hopper, the president of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Hopper is a former agriculture economics professor at the university.
“We discovered that a number of people who were affiliated with IDRC also had University of Guelph connections,” said Andrea Paras, a director at GIDS.
“The university has hosted one the oldest international development studies programs in the country. So it made sense that the collaboration started.”
One of the more famous speakers to appear at the Hopper Lecture was in 1999 when Francisco Sagasti, an engineer from Lima, Peru, spoke about the future of development cooperation. He would become the President of Peru in 2020.
An endowment by the IDRC allowed the university to invite many high-profile speakers from around the world. The topics focus mostly on the more challenging issues facing the world today.
“The environment, poverty, and equality, and to help us think through how to tackle these issues,” Paras said.